


Benthic

by panicatthesipsco



Series: Bare-root [1]
Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Gen, naiad trott, spriggan smiffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-01-28
Packaged: 2018-03-09 10:57:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3247106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panicatthesipsco/pseuds/panicatthesipsco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trott, the guardian of a forest river, had never bothered much with the woods around him. Nothing threatened his stream, and so he kept his business to himself. But that doesn't mean he's not curious when other magic creatures near his territory.</p><p>(To members of the Yogscast: don't read any of my fics on stream. Don't link, repost, or reference on any other social media or website.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Benthic

**Author's Note:**

> _benthic: relating to, or occurring at the bottom of a body of water_
> 
> [take a look at this rad art to-shae drew of spriggan smiffy!](http://to-shae.tumblr.com/post/109378849453/who-cares-about-anatomy-when-mythical-creature)

Trott carefully watched the wood creature from the safety of his stream, his eyes above the water. Trott's hair, matted down across his forehead, matched the color of the muddy riverbanks, and he willed the water to reflect the sunlight from above in every direction except towards himself, better hiding his presence from… _whatever_ the thing was.

The creature of the forest was tall and broad, standing in the tree-line across from the riverbanks. Composed of the dark bark of a red maple, Trott almost mistook him for a simple carving. Branchlike limbs extended from his temples, stretching into a strikingly similar curve to antlers. Trott had never cared for the land and the beings that dwelled on it, but he had seen plenty of elk in his time. They were silent, sturdy creatures, and he had often stared at them curiously from underneath their reflections as they drank from his stream. Behind the curve of the tree creature's forehead, tucked between the antlers, was a mass of dewy, glistening red leaves, still soft despite the creeping edge of autumn. Smaller leaves of a similar nature seemed to constantly fall from the antler-branches, though Trott couldn't quite see from where.

Throughout the wooden body were knots and cracks, spiderwebbing across the bark, and through the seams of the wooden casing spilled a warm orange glow. Two holes were hollowed into either side of his nose, and a wide crack split across the bottom of the creature's wooden face. That same orange light glowed strongest there, like embers stoked in a fire left to burn overnight. Certainly, Trott had thought, this thing was definitely crafted by some human with some form of magic. But as fluidly as if he were made of liquid, the creature stepped forward. With eyes staring to the west, he couldn't have spotted Trott, and so the naiad quickly willed his river magic to muffle his startled gasp even from under the waterline.

The creature was alive, and the light in the treeman's eyes grew stronger, spreading fast across the bark and leaves as if it truly were aflame. Trott put his energy into directing the light as it hit the surface of the river, careful to continue to hide behind the glaring reflection. The flames soon died down, leaving in his place a creature Trott was much more familiar with.

The treeman had transformed into a human. (Or perhaps it was a glamour. Trott had never paid attention much to the happenings of those outside of his stream.) The wood had been replaced with meaty bits of flesh, a pasty tone similar to the color of Trott's sand, though it did not reflect light quite as prettily, _in the naiad's opinion._ The treeman's cheeks were rosy, like he had been scalded by hot water. His shoulders were more weathered than the rest of him, much darker, as if the sun had beat down on his human skin for weeks. Dusted across the tanned plain of his skin were white speckles. Without much experience with the world outside his stream, Trott could only compare the starry expanse of freckles to the tiny bits of shells that made their way to his dark riverbed from the sea.

In place of the dying fall leaves atop the man's head, there was instead a bouquet of bright red flowers, the same scarlet as the cardinal birds that fought and played with their reflections in Trott's glassy river surface. The flower petals looked like the tiny dresses worn by the smaller fae that roamed through the woodlands, though Trott decided he could've been making that up. He couldn't see any peeks of green stems beneath the soft, pillowy mess of scarlet petals. (Was that even how flowers worked?) That is to say, if the stems were even truly green to begin with.

Trott shifted backwards, wary of remaining too close for too long around this strange, _definitely_ magic tree-turned-man. Just for a moment, as he willed the river to roll a few waves to move the light, Trott slipped outside of the reflection, and in an instant the man turned to stare at him. Trott immediately shifted the light to hide himself once more, willing the surface to ripple, creating a confusing mess of reflection and refraction. But it was obvious it was too late. He had already been seen.

As the creature carefully stepped towards him, Trott waited, sinking down in the river until he was fully submerged. He watched from underneath the water, trusting his river to throw the light that didn't spill down towards him to instead bounce across the water's surface, hiding him as he settled on the riverbed. He would simply let the thing get bored of waiting for him; Trott spent most of his time looking up through the water rather than out of it. He wouldn't need to surface any time soon.

The man stood at the water's edge, towering over the ten foot depth of Trott's river, though Trott was not intimidated. He controlled the current after all. If this creature came plunging in after him, the treeman would simply get swept away in a torrent faster than he could whisper _naiad._ Their eyes met despite the light Trott threw from the water's surface, and for a moment Trott confused the blue in the man's eyes as simply a reflection of his own river.

Though Trott was tempted to will the river to cover him in a haze of sand and mud, his own brown hair and eyes intended as camouflage to hide him in his riverbed, he kept his ground. He overtook the urge to flee in favor of kicking up from the mud beneath his feet. He floated up closer to the surface, reclining at an angle in the water, his face tilted up to better stare the man down. The creature bent forward and Trott kicked his feet to move in the same direction, keeping an equal distance between them.

The creature swung an arm forward, a foot above the surface, his fingers curled in hesitation, before snapping back, sharply turning to face the south. Though the sound was muffled through the water, Trott recognized the warbling animal tones. He had heard the creature who made that noise often in the night, wandering along the river and in the surrounding woods. He had never cared to try to get a look at it.

In a flash, the tree creature had bolted in the direction of the sound. Trott carefully peeked his head up above the water to watch him go.

Small red wildflowers grew in the patch of riverbank where the mancreature had stood.

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys! yes i am trash and started a new story, you're welcome.
> 
> this started out as me thinking about smiffy with flowers for hair, and it quickly spiraled out of control into this mess of headcanons. this will be a series with actual plot, but it will be broken up across self-contained stories.
> 
> i'd love to gush to you all more about this series and my ideas, so go to [my tumblr sideblog](http://dannyavidammitross.tumblr.com/ask) and ask me questions, or tell me what you like and want to see more of!


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